Principal Message

Dear Families,

Reading at home: It is great to hear and see students celebrating over 100 nights of reading at home with families, especially in the early years’ classes. We all know how busy life can be and the end of the day can be a challenge to squeeze some energy into reading. It is so beneficial to the learning of all students to read frequently or be read to! Please keep making the efforts to read with and to your children. A quick picture story book, a chapter while you are preparing meals at the bench or just on the couch relaxing. Model how you read for enjoyment, to locate information, research holidays etc so they can see the purpose for their life.

Supervision: Just another reminder that yard duty supervision begins at 8.45am. We have OSH care available from 7am through to 6pm of an evening that supervise, provide food and activities. Please consider using the service so your children are supervised. 

Evacuation Drill: Yesterday we rehearsed what we all need to do in the event of an emergency. We rehearse various situations each term. The children did an amazing job by responding quickly and appropriately. Please discuss the importance of these drills with your children.

Prep 2026: This week we saw 2026 Preps join us and meet their buddy for next year. I am not sure who was more excited – The Year 4’s or the Preps. It was a great session where new parents begin to get a feel of the school, what we do and how we do it. Some older siblings across the school also popped in to see their younger sibling and check in on them. We continue to welcome the new families and students this week.

Voluntary contributions: Thanks to families who have recently elected to voluntarily contribute to the school financially. Every dollar counts and helps us continue to provide the education that you want for your child/ren. State funding helps provide the basics but to help us provide even more opportunities, it is the generosity of our families that allows us to provide this. 

Montpellier PS: Today we hosted Montpellier PS for the morning as they toured the school, watched our great teachers in action and learnt from us. We visited them last year to see them in action and learnt a lot from them. We hope to share some of the great practice here and overall, improve the system of education. 

Visiting Band: Dallas has had a visiting band attend and perform for students at OGPS yesterday. An authentic experience for the performers and for our students to see what they may strive to in the future. Thanks for organising, Dallas.

Father’s/Special Person Day: We sincerely wish all father’s and special role models in all our lives, a great day for Sunday. Take the time to slow down, enjoy conversation, food and each other’s company. We will also be having a Father’s Day/Special Person stall at school tomorrow (Thursday) where students can purchase a pressie for $7. It’s also not too late to volunteer on the stalls too. Here is the link to sign up to volunteer:

https://volunteersignup.org/R9DFF

Bingo: From all reports another fantastic night for the community at Bingo! Congratulations and thanks to the P&F who continue to provide these opportunities for the community to connect. As always, if you have an idea for an event or want to try a new idea, we welcome input and can connect you with great people. It does not always have to be organised by or through the P&F! 

Solar panels: This week I was informed that we have been successfully selected to have another 23kW solar panel system to be installed by Term 1, 2026. This will complement the other systems and put us near 99kW overall. As a community we should be extremely proud of how we are contributing to a better environment and promoting the use of renewable energy.

Have a great week everyone.

Scott McCumber

Principal